As you may have seen in my other blog, my motorbike will be 90 this year, so I have decided it is time I pulled my finger out and got it rebuilt. There's not so much to do around the house( :rofl2: ), the boys are a bit older, and I've got enough funds to do it. So this blog will follow its progress....

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That place looks good, exactly the kind of place I was thinking of, especially as they recon LC barrels. The price of an LC these days you can't afford to have a dodgy job done. They'll correct me if I'm wrong but if it has an iron bore you run chrome rings, if it has a chrome finish you use iron rings. See if you can go back to standard spec....

I thought it was appropriate to start a brand new blog for the arrival of the new Xantia V6, and not tag it onto the existing 130+ page behemoth of a thread... :lol: I'm hoping this blog will be a lot shorter, happier, and more of a documentation of the fettling and upkeep of the car rather than the diagnostic nightmare thread...

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There will be a small amount of spring back in the pipe when it is wound around a cylinder/former, as it doesn't behave like plasticene. So of you need an ID of 60mm, your 58mm bottle might be just the job, as the coil will open out a tad after winding.

With that pipe, as you say, important not to bend it more times than necessary.

As some of you will already know I recently swapped my running/driving & MoT'd 406 2.1DT for another member's Xantia, a '95 N plate 1.9D automatic with cambelt & camshaft failure.

This morning the swap was completed and I had a quick shufty round under the bonnet to see where we stand... It appears it's going to be more involved than just a new...

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Further to my last post, the V5 for the Mi16 is being processed and will know more mid-month. The lad's ZX hunt turned into a 206 courtesy of Nana & Granddad, which has subsequently landed on our driveway & I've given it a once-over.

My used car forensics so far are telling me that the trader they bought it off wanted shot quick as he thought the...

Just got the C15 back up to London (with the benefit of its £30 Devon MoT). Not exactly a fun drive but it gave me time to reflect - & I came up with this idea!

I'll try to do a retrospective to put this into some sort of perspective but, for the moment:-

Last weekend had tyre (one of a pair I had bought earlier) fitted in place of the flat...

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Interesting that you've seen a C15 recently, as I've noticed they seem to be coming out of the woodwork of late (though I doubt the one I saw in a fairly remote part of Lewis will ever escape the long grass into which it had been pushed).

In fairness, it's really the Xantia that's been earning it's keep - as an uncomplaining family hack (not that...

I already have a Citroen (ish - there hasn't been much Citroen activity recently!) blog on the BX Forum:

RichardW's Blog

I'll try and put a post on here when I update it.

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New pads and discs fitted - I'd have bunged new pads in it on the old discs, but no surprise the garage wanted to put new discs on - there was also a nasty score on the NS disc (which has been there since nearly new) which I was thinking might result in an MOT fail next year, so it has some upsides.

I've been lurking around for a while, I thought today would be a good day to show off my 205 Jr D .

20190608_211358.jpg

As you can see, it's not quite standard, nor is it quite finished. Where I can I'm keeping things fairly OEM, so you could almost imagine it leaving a Peugeot factory, some things obviously this won't be possible though....

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Nice, although the handbrake remark... In my experience drums are just as much a pain as discs! If you're going to be using the car regularly and driving hard then I'd think again about discs, regular use will keep the handbrake in line.

...never thought i would be typing that with all my body parts still attached but so far she's been ok ish with it :lol:

Driven it 3 minutes home and although it has no go at all, its smooth as silk and handles like a go cart, all be it a big go-cart.
Anyway this will be a bit quiet for a good while ive got two weeks off to do the kitchen and i...

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After a great deal of welding, parts, painting and labouring the dampervan has been returned to her former glory...

I am a part time mechanic and tutor at a training centre mainly for kids with learning difficulties. We also have a couple of groups of NACRO kids doing a Modern Apprenticeship. Fifi is being maintained in the perfect place. Its the old Sunbeam Factory.

Fifi is my daily transport and about to begin a major tidy-up. A deal for leather...

Hi guys. Ive been around here for a while now, good some good advice when I had a C5 a few years ago. Had a Pug 107 for last 2 years, so was thinking I was a bit of an imposter, cos it's not really French, well the badge on the bonnet maybe is! I've made a deal to swap it for a C4vts, coming over from Belfast on Saturday. I'm saying deal, I mean...

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I know how you feel, my C15's a shed but the damage it's suffered whilst parked really get to me - I suppose (in my case) 'cos it's no longer as found .

Unfortunately, this sort of thing is not done by people with no conscience but people with no ability to form coherent thoughts; I am now quite convinced they have no...

Well, obviously I wasn't going to stay Citroen-free for long.
Today I bit the bullet and went and gave a nice man some money and my 207 for the 08 plate Picasso GP that I saw on Thursday that had a knackered clutch.

Clutch has been replaced. Invoices and warranty for 40k. Drives nicely now and it all works so far. It's a 1.8 Petrol engine, 5...

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Tuesday afternoon should work. Because of boating things (such as, we hope, an engine transplant) I will be helping Mum out on Wednesday for a change.

before getting stuck into a blog proper, a bit of history might be in order :)

My entry into the world of Xantia ownership happened somewhat by accident. Until I acquired a Xantia, I had been a confirmed Peugeot owner, having run 405 diesels for a good few years and branching out into the ownership and restoration of a Peugeot 205GTi for fun....

Not sure if this is the correct place to start a project thread but since the AM6 is fitted to Peugeot and Citroen models it didn't make sense to confine the post to one of those sub forums.

So, those of us with the AM6 gearbox are familiar with the requirement to change the oil semi-regularly in order to preserve the bores in the aluminium valve...

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A good choice of oil coolers and fittings here...
.

I have a Setrab Proline STD fitted to our XM 2.5 as engine oil cooler*, and mounted up-front ahead of the other radiators. Has been on the car for 11 years now. Braided pipework and sandwich (take-off) plate from the same folk.
* replacing the unreliable aluminium Valeo water-oil heat exchanger

having read and seen pictures of other peoples affection for their Xantias and other French cars i decided to sit down and try to describe why i bought a xantia 13 months ago.........

i was made redundant in January 2007 (happy New Year :lol: ) and as usual money was tight but things were ok till March 29th when my wife was involved in a RTA and...

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Late 2016, early 2017 the Xsara decided to throw its toys out of the pram ( well clutch went awol ) and i needed something else so i bought a 1998 Focus 2.0 Ghia that was pretty mint, older couple had had it and it had done 2k miles in 4 years, it even had the cambelt water pump etc done 2 years previous for £600.
The lad is happy with his C4,...

Collected my purchase this morning in the pouring rain. Not in bad condition overall. The body work is quite respectable for a 22 year old car. Does need a really good clean though. The only real problem I can see is the heater mattrix appears to be leaking #-o Ironicly the dash needs to come out of the TD which is partly why I bought this one...

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It has been commented (elsewhere on this forum, but posted today) that the CAT on the V6 engine is too good, and takes time to get warmed up. IIRC it takes two minutes at 3,000RPM for the cat to get hot enough, and then the emissions magically drop to zero.

In danger of being kicked off the forum for lack of (an available) French car to write about, we bought a 2011 (pre-facelift) 308 CC THP 156 HP automatic.

The car is still a bit dirty, as it was not cleaned properly by the previous owner, and not groomed by the dealer, but here you go:

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We are back in France now, so the 308 CC has been put away for the winter. It just ticked over 60,000 km on the day we left.

On reflection, we still really like the car, despite its poor reliability. It has required, on average 2 engine repairs per year since we have had it, compared to the XM, which doing similar duty has required exactly none.

Today I took posession of a 2005 C5 1.6 Estate with under 70K on the clock. It wasn't in the red I wished for (it's just a grey like every other car out there which I'm sure will provide much merryment in large car parks) but it does have towbar. electrics, roof bars and a dog guard.

It also comes with it's acquired faults, like the tailgate loom...

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Still can't bring myself to put this up for sale so finally (1000+ miles overdue) had it serviced today (incl much needed new strut leak-off pipe) and mechanic spotted more wetness elsewhere. Initially, he pointed to staining on that low-hanging hydraulic pipe on the offside but further inspection found copious fresh fluid under the power steering...

Very similar to mine - I had the black full leather and the RT3 with colour sat Nav with the voice commands that sounded like she had 10 cans of barley wine and a bottle of gin before announcing a call or giving the street name. Lovely car the MK II.

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum so I decided to make a special theme for my car because I have some problems and it will be easier for me to keep track of your answers or your help. How the title says i'm driveing citoren C5 2.2 hdi from 2004 (phase I). The car has 182,000 kilometers and so far I have not had any hard problems. At my car I...

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yes i know :D we talk about it, no worries :D
we talked about when it comes to us (law like urs-do not remove dpf .... ), how the DPF filters will be back, but our genius experts have managed to figure out how to solve it, because we are still a tomb of German diesel vehicles, it was supposed to be delivered somewhere and Croatian Bosnian Serbs...

Since I've used this forum a few times to seek help, the least I could do is show you my precious Citroens :mrgreen: 8-)
One is 2011 c4 1.4 VTi who(sorry, I really love my cars :oops: ) I'm first owner to and the second one is 2006 C4 VTS who I'm second owner to.
I'll call them c4 and VTS from now on.
C4 is faultless. It's got 109000...

Well I thought its about time I should start a blog on here, and given that club-xm is down i have nowhere to put my updates either :roll:

So a bit about me, im 21 and have always been a huge Citroen enthusiast, having been brought up on a whole host of Citroen models, my parents have always had a good number of Citroens, ranging from 2CVs, to...

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I'm still around Chris although I've not had anything French since the 406 V6 coupe nearly 4 years ago , since then it's been 2 Landrover Freelander 2's . The first a Td4 which sadly got written off by a twit in an Audi , the second an Sd4 auto which I absolutely love , your fleet has certainly been varied . Love the Volvos btw .

Having seen that everyone else with a black C4 Coupe (Citroening, Captain Slower & Davie) all have a thread on their cars, thought I'd better do one myself!
Bought the car last year after writing off the last one(don't ask!)
Love the look of them from all angles, so different from usual Golf/Focus/Auris etc. Inside the speedo pod is digital and...

Edit: This blog started out as a question about a fuel pump leak, but I realised I was taking my own post off topic by updating it with how I was getting on. So I asked myglaren to move it here so I don't keep bumping it to the top of the Citroen section. I do actually like my car but I can understand, after having previously owned a BX (14E...

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Miked, it is not against the rules (AFAIK) to name a garage/service that has done a good job. In fact, there is a dedicated section for such;

Close enough for the first 3 letters of my reg BCS to be an acronym for the blog title :)

Might as well start off with some history:

After being a mostly Nissan family for many years, I did want to stick to what I knew for many years - a P12 Primera... but rarity of them around and being really expensive made that a non-starter. And we really...

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Was in the UK for a couple of weeks, so hadn't done anything on the car.

Today, I decided to attempt the headlight restoration, and am rather pleased with the results - I still need to put the paint protection film on, but it was very windy today, so might do that tomorrow if the wind dies down, or clear up the garage a bit so I can get the car...

just on the off-chance really.
Anyone got any 'improvement' on my plan to fabricate a new one of these, circled

Best I can think at the mo is....
replicate the curve in plasticine
cut a piece of wood to shape
cut metal with one slit near the bottom
Use that as a 'former' to batter a flat piece of 0.8mm sheet into a replacement.

Sounds and no...

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On the canals the 'step' that the upper gates rest on is called the 'cill'.

I think I'll have a go at documenting my Xantia tales :D
I suppose a bit of history is in order to start us off.

My first car was the most basic 3cyl 1ltr W reg Corsa B which I purchased from my boss at the time, the day before my 17th birthday. That was the car I learnt to drive in when not with the instructor. The insurance was a bit eeek at...

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Also, I replaced the handbrake cables and guide tubes on the C5 a few weekends ago and filled them with grease. I am smitten with the C5. It's a really good Xantia replacement. I'm pleased I went for an estate too. I've lost count of the number of times I've needed the extra capacity since I've had it. I've also used the roof bars a few times.

It has started. Gabby getting her freshen up. I’m going to do it all myself. The first stage is rubbing down all the bits that are getting filler. The rear door on the passenger side has a crease the length of it but it is not getting filled. I’m pleased to announce no further welding needed. She is as sound as a pound....

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Things have been at a standstill im afraid to say. My best friend reversed her focus into a pole so I have been fixing her dent, along with the rusty front wings which every mk2 focus has. She was annoyed when i took the sander to the wings that there is already about a whole tin of filler in each one! She has had the car for 4 years when it was 6...

My 1996 Citroen ZX Volcane 2-litre petrol is reluctantly for sale. It is very little used and could do with a kind owner! I’m only the second owner, having had it for 17 years so can vouch for its genuine 86k miles. Body is remarkably rust-free but being red, has gone matt. Engine, gearbox, brakes, suspension are very good and it has an MoT until...

The biggest problem from my point of view is that cars are very expensive here and the models that I would like to own are practically non-existent.

As an example, a 2005 Peugeot 406 1.6 with no frills and a bit...

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If the system is overcharged and going out on the high pressure switch I'd expect to see a behaviour where the compressor would drop out and the engine fans would be on full speed (to try to bring the condenser temperature down). I'd not generally expect it to interact with the interior fan...though I don't know the specific quirks of the...

In another post i was asking about reyro fitting electric leather seats in a C5.

Well i found a C5 exclusive 2.0 hdi manual with leather seats today and nagged the guy to open up his lock up for me to see it as i didnt know when i could get to him during working hours due to my job.

Ok he agreed in the end but what i did...

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Thanks Jim

I am always lurking just do not have time to post much on here, Working again today off to Scotland, looking forward to retiring and have more time to myself.

Recently purchased Sl4yer's W/2000 Xantia Activa . Really regret letting my old Activa go back in 2011 and whilst the phase 2 C5's are really nice in there own way and the X7 C5's are just amazing, nothing made up for the zero body roll feeling on the country roads and roundabouts. So with it down to just 24 Xantia Activa's left road legal i...

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I'm looking forward to getting my Activa on the road again now. I was going to do it last month but realised that I was 3 weeks through the month and refused to loose a months tax... in hindsight I wish I had done as it's now MOT time and she's not moved since last year so I'll be going the very long route to MOT to give her a bit of a workout on...

My DS4 got stolen and burnt out almost a fortnight ago, so I decided to get a stop gap car for now. I was looking on eBay and found a 52 plate 2.0HDi Estate with full service history, an A4 envolope full of receipts. The car has had both the timing and cam belts done, The water pump replaced, new Discs, pas and...

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NG4 I’ve had no issues with and it runs the latest firmware and software, maps, etc.

Steering rack, I don’t know about, I’m going to ask my local dealer if they can pull anything from the history of the car, it’s been maintained by a main dealer in Oxford (Hartwell) so I’m hoping there’s something they can find out.

First proper appearance on here of this particular CX of mine.
I've owned it for something like 20 years. It's been off the road for about 12 of them. Can't remember what caused me to buy this one (I already had inherited another previous to it :lol:
Short summary of the 'entertainment' that this particular one has given me over the years......

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Don't use petrol for parts washing... It's dangerous both from a fire risk and a health risk...

Typical modern engine bay, covered with plastic crap everywhere, but in good nick and I know when the cambelt was last done;

Tiny dent...

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Well all looking good on this being the cause of the odd tail light behaviour (makes perfect sense) but unfortunately not the cause of the battery randomly dying. So, no more messing about - a replacement Bosch Silver has gone in.

First time I've replaced a battery on a C5 and I must say... Gosh! What a brilliant bit of design! Easiest battery...

Her prelude is a good way off being on the road and she wanted a small car for a bit of fun/freedom. I've really been starting to like the look of C2's (it was the row of them at the National meet last year that started it off for me :oops: ) and the neighbours have a friend that turns up in...

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Yep.
Thats on top of the various other things like the usual broken/missing clips all over the engine bay and wheel arch liners, engine undertray missing...
There's also an oil leak from the rocker cover somewhere (another fall out from the cambelt that was done less than a year ago). So bloody annoying. But underneath it all, it's a fun (and...

I knew this van for a few years before I bought it as it was owned from new by a local woman. When she retired from driving she gave it to the local garage who had always serviced it. They'd then used it as a courtesy and staff car and while they'd looked after it mechanically, it was rarely washed and was full of rubbish.

A few weeks ago my...

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\tfr is also very harsh to alloy of any type and seeps into seams attacking zinc coatings.....nasty stuff imho

Hate weekends, too much time on my hands and always seem to get into some sort of trouble. It doesn't get better with age, just different.

There just happened to be an auction on about 80 miles from home and not having been to one for several years decided to attend. There was quite an eclectic mix of vehicles plus one that looked quite promising...

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as citronut (Malcolm) used to say when he had to work on a height controller, Work and grease, work and grease . I take this to mean that (when he had one off the car) he would move the arm several times through its' full travel, apply some white grease, full travel a few more times, grease, and repeat until the arm moved freely.